TAIPEI: The much-talked about cross-Straits memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in financial supervision could be signed as early as this week or next week after gaining support from the legislature and the financial sector, Wu Den-yih, head of the Executive Yuan, said yesterday.

Wu made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency, saying that although the signing of the MOU is the executive branch's authority, it is necessary to consult with the legislative caucuses of both the ruling and opposition parties, as well as the financial sector before inking the agreement.

"It would be perfect to sign the MOU based on a consensus. Such procedures of consulting with the Legislative Yuan and the financial sector are indispensable and won't necessarily take much time," Wu said.

"It wouldn't be impossible (to sign the MOU) before the end of this week or next week," he added.

The agreement will outline financial regulatory systems to pave the way for Taiwan and the mainland to reciprocally approve operations by each other's financial institutions.

Anticipation about the signing has been escalating after Wu's deputy, Eric Liluan Chu, said last Friday that a breakthrough in cross-Straits talks on the financial MOU would come "in the next two days."

His statement drove up the Taiwan bourse by more than 100 points in the first half of that day's trading session.

As to the proposed cross-Straits partial free trade agreement known as the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), Wu said that negotiators from Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits are expected to informally touch on the ECFA issue in their upcoming round of talks scheduled to take place in December in Taiwan.

It is also important for Taiwan and the mainland to decide as soon as possible on their specific product categories on the "early harvest" list, he added.

"The proposed pact is like a rose. While those who look on the bright side see a flower and the pessimistic ones see only the thorns on it, the government must see both in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the impact," Wu said.

The "early harvest" lists refer to industries or services that each side will open for immediate tariff concessions or more liberal trade terms under the ECFA, similar to provisions under a free trade agreement.

According to Wu, although recent polls showed that more than 50 percent of the people surveyed support signing ECFA with the mainland, the government still needs to work on increasing public support on the issue.

"It would be more ideal ... if we have more than 60 percent of public support on the ECFA..." Wu said.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 11/11/2009 page2)